Reference Manual #2 – Chapter 1: Background and Purpose

Planning plays a vital role in preserving National Park Service (NPS) resources for future generations and providing opportunities for visitor understanding and enjoyment. A complex set of legal and policy requirements across units, resources, and subjects guides NPS planning. All NPS-administered units, lands, and waters (NPS units) must comply with NPS Management Policies (2006), Director’s Orders, and other relevant laws and policies specific to the type of unit, resource, or subject for which they are planning.

Chapter 2: Park System Planning of the Management Policies establishes the general principles and major elements of planning for NPS units. Director’s Order #2: Park Planning (DO-2) supplements and supersedes sections of Chapter 2 of the Management Policies to:

  • define the NPS planning framework and the planning portfolio;
  • outline the types of planning documents available to meet NPS unit planning needs; and
  • provide clarity and guidance about how an NPS unit’s planning portfolio meets the statutory requirements for general management plans (GMP) (54 U.S.C. 100502).

Per DO-2, the Associate Director of Park Planning, Facilities and Lands is delegated the authority to issue Reference Manual (RM) #2: Park Planning (RM-2), which offers detailed guidance on implementing DO-2. RM-2 has the following objectives:

  • Clarify the minimum requirements to address the legal mandate for general management planning as required by 54 U.S.C. 100502
  • Provide understandable guidance to the public and NPS staff for how the NPS addresses 54 U.S.C. 100502
  • Align expectations for and outcomes of planning to 54 U.S.C. 100502 with NPS's operational capacity
  • Codify standard operating procedures for planning policy reviews as required by DO-2.

NPS planning is an interdisciplinary process that must adhere to a wide range of laws, policies, and guidance from programs across all NPS directorates. This RM does not compile all related guidance into a single source. As detailed in Section 4.9 of DO-2, it is incumbent on each individual NPS unit, with support from the regional offices and planning teams, to align planning projects to all legal mandates, Executive Orders, regulations, NPS policies, accepted preservation standards and practices, servicewide orders, directives, initiatives and priorities, and Departmental guidance.

The Park Planning and Special Studies Division (PPSS) maintains RM-2 as a living document and revises the RM, on an annual basis, with substantial input from an advisory group that includes regional planning offices, representatives from NPS units, and other offices and disciplines to ensure the broad spectrum of perspectives on planning related issues are adequately represented. The PPSS also produces and distributes supplemental guidance with the support and guidance of the advisory group. The PPSS also maintains an external website with links to additional planning-related requirements and resources.

Where other level 3 directives or guidelines (per Management Policies Directives System) appear to differ from the information in this RM, this RM has precedence. This RM improves the internal management of the NPS and is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities or entities, its officers or employees, or any other person.

Last updated: January 17, 2025

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